Acetate adaptation of clostridia tyrobutyricum for improved fermentation production of butyrate.

Clostridium tyrobutyricum ATCC 25755 is an acidogenic bacterium capable of utilizing xylose for the fermentation production of butyrate. Hot water extraction of hardwood lingocellulose is an efficient method of producing xylose where autohydrolysis of xylan is catalysed by acetate originating from acetyl groups present in hemicellulose. The presence of acetic acid in the hydrolysate might have a severe impact on the subsequent fermentations. In this study the fermentation kinetics of C. tyrobutyricum cultures after being classically adapted for growth at 26.3 g/L acetate equivalents were studied. Analysis of xylose batch fermentations found that even in the presence of high levels of acetate, acetate adapted strains had similar fermentation kinetics as the parental strain cultivated without acetate. The parental strain exposed to acetate at inhibitory conditions demonstrated a pronounced lag phase (over 100 hours) in growth and butyrate production as compared to the adapted strain (25 hour lag) or non-inhibited controls (0 lag). Additional insight into the metabolic pathway of xylose consumption was gained by determining the specific activity of the acetate kinase (AK) enzyme in adapted versus control batches. AK activity was reduced by 63% in the presence of inhibitory levels of acetate, whether or not the culture had been adapted.

Impact of hemicellulose pre-extraction for bioconversion on birch Kraft pulp properties.

The combination of hemicellulose extraction with chemical pulping processes is one approach to generate a sugar feedstock amenable to biochemical transformation to fuels and chemicals. Extractions of hemicellulose from silver birch (Betula pendula) wood chips using either water or Kraft white liquor (NaOH, Na(2)S, and Na(2)CO(3)) were performed under conditions compatible with Kraft pulping, using times ranging between 20 and 90 min, temperatures of 130-160 degrees C, and effective alkali (EA) charges of 0-7%. The chips from select extractions were subjected to subsequent Kraft pulping and the refined pulps were made into handsheets. Several metrics for handsheet strength properties were compared with a reference pulp made without an extraction step. This study demonstrated that white liquor can be utilized to extract xylan from birch wood chips prior to Kraft cooking without decreasing the pulp yield and paper strength properties, while simultaneously impregnating cooking alkali into the wood chips. However, for the alkaline conditions tested extractions above pH 10 resulted in low concentrations of xylan. Water extractions resulted in the highest final concentrations of xylan; yielding a liquor without the presence of toxic or inhibitory inorganics and minimal soluble aromatics that we demonstrate can be successfully enzymatically hydrolyzed to monomeric xylose and fermented to succinic acid. However, water extractions were found to negatively impact some pulp properties including decreases in compression strength, bursting strength, tensile strength, and tensile stiffness while exhibiting minimal impact on elongation and slight improvement in tearing strength index.

Inhibition of succinic acid production in metabolically engineered Escherichia coli by neutralizing agent, organic acids, and osmolarity.

The economical viability of biochemical succinic acid production is a result of many processing parameters including final succinic acid concentration, recovery of succinate, and the volumetric productivity. Maintaining volumetric productivities >2.5 g L(-1) h(-1) is important if production of succinic acid from renewable resources should be competitive. In this work, the effects of organic acids, osmolarity, and neutralizing agent (NH4OH, KOH, NaOH, K2CO3, and Na2CO3), and Na2CO3) on the fermentative succinic acid production by Escherichia coli AFP184 were investigated. The highest concentration of succinic acid, 77 g L(-1), was obtained with Na2CO3. In general, irrespective of the base used, succinic acid productivity per viable cell was significantly reduced as the concentration of the produced acid increased. Increased osmolarity resulting from base addition during succinate production only marginally affected the productivity per viable cell. Addition of the osmoprotectant glycine betaine to cultures resulted in an increased aerobic growth rate and anaerobic glucose consumption rate, but decreased succinic acid yield. When using NH4OH productivity completely ceased at a succinic acid concentration of approximately 40 g L(-1). Volumetric productivities remained at 2.5 g L(-1) h(-1) for up to 10 h longer when K- or Na-bases where used instead of NH4OH. The decrease in cellular succinic acid productivity observed during the anaerobic phase was found to be due to increased organic acid concentrations rather than medium osmolarity.

Production of the bioactive compound eritadenine by submerged cultivation of shiitake (Lentinus edodes) mycelia.

Fruit bodies and mycelia of shiitake mushroom ( Lentinus edodes) have been shown to contain the cholesterol-reducing compound eritadenine, 2( R),3( R)-dihydroxy-4-(9-adenyl)butyric acid. In the search for a production method for eritadenine, shiitake mycelia were investigated in the present study. The mycelia were cultivated both in shake flasks and in bioreactors, to investigate the effects of pH, stirring rate, and reactor type on the production and distribution of eritadenine. Both the biomass and the culture broth were examined for their eritadenine content. In the shake flasks, the final concentration of eritadenine was 1.76 mg/L and eritadenine was equally distributed between the mycelia and the growth media. In the bioreactors, the shiitake mycelia were found to contain eritadenine in relatively low levels, whereas the majority, 90.6-98.9%, was detected in the growth media. Applying a stirring rate of 250 rpm during bioreactor cultivation resulted in the highest eritadenine concentrations: 10.23 mg/L when the pH was uncontrolled and 9.59 mg/L when the pH was controlled at 5.7. Reducing the stirring rate to 50 rpm resulted in a decreased eritadenine concentration, both at pH 5.7 (5.25 mg/L) and when pH was not controlled (5.50 mg/L). The mycelia in the shake flask cultures appeared as macroscopic aggregates, whereas mycelia cultivated in bioreactors grew more as freely dispersed filaments. This study demonstrates for the first time the extra- and intracellular distribution of eritadenine produced by shiitake mycelial culture and the influence of reactor conditions on the mycelial morphology and eritadenine concentrations.

Quantification of the bioactive compound eritadenine in selected strains of shiitake mushroom (Lentinus edodes).

Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common causes of death in the Western world, and a high level of blood cholesterol is considered a risk factor. The edible fungus, shiitake mushroom (Lentinus edodes), contains the hypocholesterolemic agent eritadenine, 2(R),3(R)-dihydroxy-4-(9-adenyl)-butyric acid. This study was conducted to quantify the amount of the cholesterol reducing agent eritadenine in shiitake mushrooms, in search of a potential natural medicine against blood cholesterol. The amounts of eritadenine in the fruit bodies of four different shiitake mushrooms, Le-1, Le-2, Le-A, and Le-B, were investigated in this study. To achieve this goal, methanol extraction was used to recover as much as possible of the hypocholesterolemic agent from the fungal cells. In addition, enzymes that degrade the fungal cell walls were also used to elucidate if the extraction could be further enhanced. To analyze the target compound, a reliable and reproducible HPLC method for separation, identification, and quantification of eritadenine was developed. The shiitake strains under investigation exhibit up to 10 times higher levels of eritadenine than previously reported for other shiitake strains. Further, pretreating the mushrooms with hydrolytic enzymes before methanol extraction resulted in an insignificant increase in the amount of eritadenine released. These results indicate the potential for delivery of therapeutic amounts of eritadenine from the ingestion of extracts or dried concentrates of shiitake mushroom strains.

Effect of different carbon sources on the production of succinic acid using metabolically engineered Escherichia coli.

Succinic acid (SA) is an important platform molecule in the synthesis of a number of commodity and specialty chemicals. In the present work, dual-phase batch fermentations with the E. coli strain AFP184 were performed using a medium suited for large-scale industrial production of SA. The ability of the strain to ferment different sugars was investigated. The sugars studied were sucrose, glucose, fructose, xylose, and equal mixtures of glucose and fructose and glucose and xylose at a total initial sugar concentration of 100 g L-1. AFP184 was able to utilize all sugars and sugar combinations except sucrose for biomass generation and succinate production. For sucrose as a substrate no succinic acid was produced and none of the sucrose was metabolized. The succinic acid yield from glucose (0.83 g succinic acid per gram glucose consumed anaerobically) was higher than the yield from fructose (0.66 g g-1). When using xylose as a carbon source, a yield of 0.50 g g-1 was obtained. In the mixed-sugar fermentations no catabolite repression was detected. Mixtures of glucose and xylose resulted in higher yields (0.60 g g-1) than use of xylose alone. Fermenting glucose mixed with fructose gave a lower yield (0.58 g g-1) than fructose used as the sole carbon source. The reason is an increased pyruvate production. The pyruvate concentration decreased later in the fermentation. Final succinic acid concentrations were in the range of 25-40 g L-1. Acetic and pyruvic acid were the only other products detected and accumulated to concentrations of 2.7-6.7 and 0-2.7 g L-1. Production of succinic acid decreased when organic acid concentrations reached approximately 30 g L-1. This study demonstrates that E. coli strain AFP184 is able to produce succinic acid in a low cost medium from a variety of sugars with only small amounts of byproducts formed.